Students learn to write poetry

By TOM STANKARD

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Ironwood - To inspire children to use their imaginations, Lynne Wiercinski, of Ironwood Carnegie Library, hosted a Young Authors and Illustrators meeting this week at Luther L. Wright High School.

Gathered in the school library, inspiring authors and artists sat at a table topped with magazines, word blocks and pictures.

Wiercinski held up a poem she assembled from the same supplies and said the students were going to make their own.

With her imagination racing, Kianna Sanabria, a Luther L. Wright sixth-grader, and other area students pieced together stanzas by cutting letters from magazines and arranging word blocks to form poems. Then, the children decorated their pieces of paper with pictures and shapes.

Wiercinski said students in the club are still learning what poetry is. "While they learn, they can use their imagination and put it down on paper," she said. "At the end of the day, they are amazed."

The goal of the club is to encourage students to explore creativity.

"It's incredible to see them come up with an idea and help each other find the right words and phrases," Wiercinski said, smiling.

Students can also select a journal to take home once they attend at least two meetings, she said.

Wiercinski said she's grateful to local author Pat O'Neill, who donates all proceeds from his books and poetry readings to creative programming for area children.

For more information about the Young Authors and Illustrators Club, call Ironwood Carnegie Library at 906-932-0203.